But Harvard is not a business. It’s a public trust - protected by nonprofit laws, free of most taxes, recipient of billions of government dollars - and its success shouldn’t be measured in its rate of return on investments.

...But the hole in the ground in Allston where a life-sciences center was supposed to be, the near-freeze on academic hiring, and the costly interest being paid on bonds to cover university expenses are all legacies of that policy.

...Yet its prime concern in crafting a new strategy should not be to maximize returns at any cost, but rather to maintain the stability necessary to grow and prosper as an institution. The larger communities of Boston and Cambridge, which depend on Harvard, would be grateful - just as they are justified now in their anger and chagrin.